NPR Layoffs Impact WRVO and WEOS

Yesterday’s announced budget cuts at NPR will result in “Day to Day” being pulled from the WRVO weekday lineup, and “News and Notes” disappearing from the WEOS weekday lineup. No replacements have been named yet.

In his latest “Program Points” e-mail to listeners issued today, WRVO program director Fred Vigeant refers to an NPR announcement which details the cutbacks announced yesterday. In addition to canceling “Day to Day,” the network is also terminating “News and Notes.”

“Day to Day” airs weekdays from 1-2pm on WRVO. “News and Notes” airs during the same timeslot on WEOS. Both shows will end on Friday, March 20, 2009. Neither show is carried by Albany’s WAMC, which feeds programming to WRUN in Utica.

NPR handed pink slips to more than 60 staffers yesterday, and another 20 vacancies will be left unfilled. It’s all part of an effort to close a $23 million budget gap.

In the network’s statement, Dana Davis Rehm, NPR’s senior vice president for strategy and partnerships says, “this is driven entirely by the economic crisis that’s swirling around us and every other company in the nation and maybe the world.”